Having been a long time consumer of Online Opinion I have been appreciative of the site and what it affords people like myself who enjoy having their views challenged with information and debate.

Not ever having had a credit card in my life I have found the opportunity to monetarily support Graham and the others involved in this venture to be problematic.

In the past I have assuaged my guilt knowing that the ads I am exposed to are bringing in some revenue for OLO and have often taken the time to click through, hopefully to some small effect.

I recently had my young nephew using my computer and I took issue with ads that were being presented on some of the quite ordinary sites he was visiting, especially those touting extreme games.

I have since installed Adblocker and Ghostery which are very effective. Yet I know that by doing this I have effectively stopped any monies accruing to OLO from me using this site.

After installing Adblock there was a very simple plea for support which I was more than happy to oblige. It was simple, effective, took very little of my time, was virtually risk free and had a nice salutation to finish. Just how I like it.

Quote

Thank you so much :D
PayPal will email you your receipt.
You just helped me and my wife pay the bills, and helped fund AdBlock development. You officially rock.
...
- Michael and Katie

End Quote

So this is a plea for OLO to explore the option of us 'adblocking ingrates' to contribute via Paypal. Having set these up before I know there is not a hell of a lot involved and I am positive it would be worth the effort.

Csteele – I would be happy to contribute a small sum from time to time to avoid the AIDS of our civilisation Advertising.

Advertising lies or at best tells half-truths. It cultivates a myriad of parasitic activities that add to the expense of most of our goods and services. It pays for absolute garbage on or TV’s and pays for individuals like Bolt and Jones.

I say remove advertising as a tax deductable expense and let us choose what we pay for directly, not through advertising.

Despite Producer's negativity, I agree with Csteele in that PayPal would be a good idea for this site.

Many people, especially older supporters, are hesitant to use credit cards online, and others, like me, have actually been burned using them before.

I actually like advertisements. I have even accessed some from this site, and purchased goods.
So Producer, rather than banning all advertising, why not just block them on your computer, and leave the rest of us to shop....by Paypal.

I second Producer.

Today I was looking for something and my friend said "oh, I just saw an ad on TV for what you are looking..." - I stopped her there and then and said "thank you, but I don't want to hear any more, I don't want to know who they are, I refuse to benefit from advertising and I have a policy of trying to avoid those businesses who do it".

Advertising is a mild form of violence, creating harmful materialistic impressions in the minds of passers-by, seducing them to slave harder in order to purchase goods and services which they otherwise would have no interest in buying. If two or more mature people agree to harm each other, I have no right to stand in their way, but they should not receive societal-appreciation for their bad acts in the form of tax deductions. I made no such mutual-harm pacts myself, and so I have no TV, do not listen to commercial radio and have a sticker on my mailbox and the best tools installed on my computer to prevent these things from showing up. If I were not able to block the ads on this site, then I wouldn't be here. And yes, I will be happy to contribute my share of the OLO costs.

Suseonline says – “So Producer, rather than banning all advertising”

I don’t like being verballed. What I did say was “remove advertising as a tax deductable expense”.

We all pay for advertising in two ways even if we switch the off.

1. As mentioned prior advertising increase the price of goods and services for everyone whether they support it or not.

2. It robs government (us) of badly needed of revenue due to its tax deductibility status.

So Suseonline, next time you are shopping for an advertised product, think of the homeless and hungry of this wealthy country. Perhaps the youth that considers alcohol attractive or the one who has anorexia because advertising says it’s sexy. I could go on and on!

>>I actually like advertisements.<<

You're weird Suse :)

Ads are annoying except for the occasional funny one. But it's the ads with an audio component (TV, radio, some online) that really grate on the nerves rather than the purely visual (print, billboard, some online). OLO's ads aren't annoying enough to warrant blocking.

Cheers,

Tony

Maybe I am weird Tony, but I am part of a majority that advertisements are successfully aimed at.

Of course some advertisements are annoying, and I hate the way they amp up the volume at times, but they wouldn't spend all the money and time on advertising if it didn't work.
This site is one of thousands who rely on advertising for their existence.

I like shopping online because I work long hours and am often on call.... so shoot me!

Dear Yuyutsu,

You write; “I refuse to benefit from advertising and I have a policy of trying to avoid those businesses who do it”.

The thing is that we do benefit from advertising every time we access this site since without it it probably wouldn't exist. And if we use Google for anything at all then again its business model is wholly derived from its advertising structure.

The only one of note that has managed to keep itself out of the clutches of the ad executives is Wikipedia to which I have contributed for years, primarily on Wikipedia Day January the 15th but on other occasions especially after I have enjoyed a particularly juicy 'stream of learning' which Wikipedia allows so brilliantly.

My wish for OLO is that they facilitate contributions through Paypal since, as Suseonline alludes, the demographic of posters here would probably lend itself toward those who “are hesitant to use credit cards online”.

I also think the demographic is smart enough to recognise that by blocking OLO ads we are costing them money, possibly forcing them to push more intrusive advertising on other users. Our saving grace is a sense of obligation or fairness toward projects like OLO that I'm not sure exists to such a degree in the generation raised with the internet. Make it easy and safe to contribute and I for one will utilise it.

P.S. To the techie. The site's spell checker flagging 'internet' as either misspelt or erroneous is a curiosity.

Dear Csteele,

I know that it is practically impossible to avoid companies that advertise, but I TRY to avoid them, if I can.

By refusing to benefit from advertising I meant that I refuse to gain pleasure from the information within advertisements. I do what I can to avoid seeing/hearing them in the first place, but if one happens to slip through, I will never act on that information even if I otherwise found the product/service appealing.

Re 'Google', for that reason and many others I switched my default search engine and am now using 'DuckDuckGo', which has a "no advertising" option.

I hate denying funds from OLO, but ads are not a price I am willing to pay - adding scratches to my brain is no better than hitting my hand with a hammer. I am happy to pay in $$'s instead.